On one of the mornings of December 2020, during the charity fundraising race # 280km28dniv28000, Svitlana, 28 year old single mother of four children and Berezhany orphanage graduate shared her thoughts on her biggest dream - to have bigger housing for her and her four children in the near future. She realized that her children are growing up very quickly and that her brother with a disability will join them soon after graduating from school. All six of them will not be able to fit and live in the small dormitory room (12sq.m.) that Svitlana bought 4 years ago from money she earned. So we decided to try to help. In early March, Orphans’ Future foundation started organizing a fundraising campaign to help Svitlana to raise the necessary amount of money to buy a larger place to live. We were aware that this fundraising process could take us 3-5 years, knowing the realities of life in Ukraine. We were preparing Svitlana psychologically for several months, before she decided to allow us to share her dream on social networks and media to start the campaign. We took a risk.
From April 2021 to December 2021, Svitlana experienced deep stress, listening or reading to all the negative and positive comments regarding her situation. She woke up at 3 o'clock every morning and went to work at several jobs to raise money for her dream. Every month, together with the team of Orphans Future Foundation, we summed up the collected aid and how much Svitlana saved from her earnings. We spread the news on the pages of the foundation, the media, and in private messages to our friends of the organization. Thus, at the beginning of December, the major portion was collected, and in the last two weeks, three big donations were made to complete the fundraising. Svitlana was able to buy her dream home in Ternopil and moved in on December 19th, right on St.Nicolas Day. From a 129sq.feet small room in a public dormitory to a large three-room apartment, 753 square feet - Svitlana's dream came true. Svitlana and her four children invited our team to visit her new place. At the table with tea and cake, we talked and shared our thoughts about how this became a reality in just one year. Svitlana and her children were so happy that now they have enough space and privacy in their life.
In percentage terms, 55% of the amount was collected by Svitlana herself, the rest was provided by other people, including the Hlywa Fund, the local Church, an anonymous family from the United States, Real Men Real Style Company added 50% to the donation donated to the Orphans Future account during 2021.
We are proud that with a little support from all of us, Svitlana did not give up believing, worked, postponed and realized her dream, which only in December 2020 was only a dream.
Orphans Future Foundation is always ready to support graduates of state run institutions, who are orphans or those deprived of parental care, but who take initiative and work hard to achieve their dreams.
Dear benefactors and friends, you can encourage the dreams of young people who do not have the support of relatives but have a strong desire for a better future for themselves and are willing to work. After all, as experience shows, with only a little financial support from concerned people, a young person can achieve their goals.
